


Our Life In A Day

by PunsAndSuffering



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: I really loved these prompts, M/M, References to Suicide, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, for the mattmello week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 00:59:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17478263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunsAndSuffering/pseuds/PunsAndSuffering
Summary: Sometimes, a day can feel like a lifetime.





	Our Life In A Day

**Author's Note:**

> This was a small one-shot following the prompts of the 2018 MattMello Week (tumblr: mattmelloweek). I needed to save this story somewhere other than Tumblr.

##  _**Memories** _

It was nearly two in the morning. Mello tried, very hard, but no matter what, they couldn’t fall asleep. The very next day was an important one, but there they were, contemplating the ceiling of that cheap apartment they had bought in one of the most shady parts of Tokyo.

One of the perks of having dirty money from their mafia days was being able to use it for continuing the investigation. Cons of it included only using it on non traceable business. It was already a miracle they could purchase any apartment at all; damned laws, and their stupid ‘you need a proof of identity’ bullshit.

They turned around and looked at Matt, sleeping like it was just another night. Of course, Mello knew it wasn’t the case. Before that night, he had been awake for almost four days, running through all the details of the plan.

Mello couldn’t help but laugh softly. They remembered how, when they were on their early teenage days, both of them would bet on who could last awake for the longest time. To that day, Mello still held the record, with a week and a day.

What a couple of demons, they were. Wrecking havoc all around the Wammy’s House, and getting caught only one out of ten times. Sneaking out at night to drink and smoke on a nearby stone bridge, blaming the cold weather for searching each other’s warmth, first sloppy kisses, confessions about their past made in a whisper because giving voice to those memories was painful enough.

Lost within the haze of sweet days and moments they held close to their heart, and almost without realising, Mello finally fell asleep, their dreams taking them into a very calming reality; one for they would beg, steal, and kill to make it real.

##  **_Alternate Universe - Regular Orphanage_ **

Mihael couldn’t believe it, but they were absolutely sure about it. One of their favourite YouTubers, VideoCigarettes, had to be for sure the same red-haired kid that was their first crush back at the orphanage they lived in till they were fourteen.

Maybe it was fate, but somehow, the first art exhibit with their paintings on a US gallery happened to be the very same weekend, at the very same city, VidCon was going down.

What wasn’t fate, and was in fact absolutely intentional, was the purchase of that very same ticket they had in their hands. Well, seventy percent lack of impulse control and thirty percent intention, but who was counting.

And there they were, next in line for the meet and greet with Matt, VideoCigarettes himself in the flesh, with his newly dyed blue cinder hair, their iconic googles stuck on top of his head, and a smile that could outshine the sun; a smile that made Mello almost trip on their feet when the security staff said 'next’.

He wasn’t looking when Matt started to ask to who should he address the signed photography to, so it was easier for Mello to deliver their line (which had been very much rehearsed, embarrassingly so).

“To the Blonde White Chocolate Head that once made you drink the worst conundrum of sodas to ever exist.”

To this, Matt snapped his head to look at him, as if he had been slapped, and his face immediately lit up. “Blondie! Holy shit, man!” He jumped over the table and hugged them, leaving all security personnel unable to decide what to do.

“Glad to see you again, Cherry.” Mello broke the hug just to smile at him.

“Hell, we haven’t seen each other for years, we really need to catch up!” He was getting more and more excited with each word, which meant, also getting louder. Every nearby fan was now listening intently.

“Hey, I don’t want to steal much of your time with your other fans,” Matt beamed at the word 'other’, to which Mello gently pushed him. “, but we could catch up tonight? There’s an art exhibit at this gallery downtown, opens at seven, I’ll get you in the list, I know the artist.” They proceeded to give him a piece of paper with the address written down on it.

“Of course, I’ll be there right on time. It’s a date!” He winked, and Mello just laughed and walked away, pretending their heartbeat wasn’t fast as a race car.

But, of course, they actually were the happiest person in town at that very second.

##  _**Reunion** _

When Matt woke up at seven thirty in the morning, he searched for Mello’s body, eyes still closed. Upon feeling their exposed skin under his fingers, he snuggled close to them, and finally opened his eyes.

The scars were, obviously, the most noticeable feature about their bare back. He was hesitant at first, but then decided it was worth the risk: Matt pressed down his lips on Mello’s shoulder blade, then quickly moved his head back. Luckily, they didn’t wake up.

Matt thought about when they met again after so many years, just a couple months back. He got an encrypted email to one of his oldest accounts (the one he made to play WoW back still at Wammy’s), with just an address and a single word: 'Blondie’.

He didn’t think twice: Mello might’ve hated it when Matt called them that, but it was a damn great code.

When they met on a cheap motel at the outskirts of LA, Mello briefly told Matt what happened, as if they hadn’t just spent the last years without any contact, as if they had been hanging out the week before. That somehow made things easier, for both of them.

It took a lot of convincing till Mello showed him their wounds, but it was obviously not healing like it should have, and incredibly painful by Mello’s expressions, breaking out of character every now and then with a wince. After years of being away from each other, one thing was still certain: if Mello was stubborn, Matt was twice as persistent.

But finally, they agreed, and Matt was able to make a quick trip to the next pharmacy to purchase actual medical tools and equipment, which, to this day, he firmly believes saved Mello’s life.

While patching their oozing burns, obliviously trying to divert their attention, Matt cracked a joke, and for the first time in years, Mello genuinely laughed.

“You know, I always said you were  _smoking hot_ , but it wasn’t an invitation to go all Beyond on me, Mells.”

##  **_Free Day -_** _**Car Rides**_

“No.”

“C'mon, Nelly Melly? Please?”

“For the last time, Matthew Mcconaughey” Mello put down their bowl of cereal a tad harder than intended, but enough to make their point across. “We are not taking the car for a ride. It’s for the mission, nothing else.”

“Hmm…” Matt let out a long breath, smoke escaping his lips. “I’ll put on your music instead of mine.”

_Don’t let him convince you don’t let him convince you don’t let him-_

“ _T-tell your boyfriend, if he says he’s got beef_ ”

“THAT I’M A VEGETARIAN” Matt sang along, nudging them.

“AND I AIN’T FUCKING SCARED OF HIM” Mello finally joined in, unable to hold back any longer. It was such a bop, after all.

They sometimes hated (but not really) how Matt was able to convince them of so many plans. It was so reckless, and stupid, and stupidly reckless, to cruise around with the car they were going to use later. But also, as Matt pointed out, it was a once in a lifetime chance.

They didn’t want to dwell too much on the thought of it maybe being their last chance for a car ride.

So they grabbed a bunch of drinks from a convenience store, headed north outside of the city, and just drove aimlessly, windows rolled down, the morning sun warming their skin despite the cold January winter, and Mello’s favourite tunes blasting through the speakers.

For a couple hours, everything else faded, locked down in the trunk, and they became what they should’ve been, had life been kind, had it been fair: just two young kids, enjoying their time together, singing along in a car, without a care in the world.

Maybe that wasn’t out of the question, out of the realm of possibility. Maybe that could still happen again; maybe it could keep happening in the future.

They just had to make it work.

##  **_Found Family_ **

Mello was pacing around, left and right, like the world’s angriest metronome. For half an hour, Matt had been busy with the last tweaks to the possible escape routes, but now, with nothing left to do but wait, he was done watching Mello torture themselves.

“Mello, come with me.” He grabbed their hand before any protest could be muttered, and brought Mello to the kitchen.

“What, why? I mean, I can pace here too, but I don’t get the need for this change of scenery.”

Matt didn’t answer, and instead motioned them to sit down on the small kitchen table they had. Now, instead of walking the room like a Buckingham Palace guard, they started to tap with their fingernails on the table.

_Tap tap tap tap tap._

Mello closed their eyes, hearing Matt messing with utensils around the counter. They tried to calm down, but to no avail. They were both risking it all, it was a sole move that could end everything. Victory was at their grasp, but then again, so was-

“Here.” With a clank that startled them away from their thoughts, Mello looked down at possibly the messiest sandwiches ever made. It had almost every single ingredient they had stored in both the cabinets and the fridge.

“What’s… this?” Matt put some water bottles on the table and sat down at the other end, his own sandwich dangerously wobbling. It was the worst Pisa tower recreation, if someone were to ask for Mello’s opinion.

“This is our dinner. We’re gonna sit here, as if we were a hinged, functional family, and pretend we’re uhhh…” Matt closed his eyes for a moment, thinking, and then snapped them open, smiling. “We’re 35, a couple from Brooklyn who just came from their respective shifts. Okay, ready, set, action!”

“Matt, I don’t-”

“Who’s that Matt? I’m your husband, Len, short for Lenjamin, remember?” Mello couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

“Right, must be still stuck with job shit, sorry. You know, selling tennis balls can be pretty taxing for the nugget.” They bit the monstrosity Matt had so indulgently called their dinner, and immediately reached for the water.

“Hmm…” Matt had also taken a bite, but they were more composed about the horrible sensations. “Guess I have to talk to Marlene again; she leaves the house spotless, but by God, that woman don’t know her way on the kitchen!”

And so, Lenjamin and Jerexander had the worst dinner in the history of their seven-year relationship. But they still enjoyed their time together; they talked about their job, and their next trip to New York to watch some musicals like they always did on Valentine’s Day, because that’s how they met, after all.

Mello had always wondered if that’s how families truly were, because that’s what they always saw on shows and books. But after all their history with Matt, and the past few months they had spent together, they now knew, that family was more than trips and a house and all that crap.

Yeah, they were a small, unhinged, dysfunctional family of two. But Mello wouldn’t trade it for the world.

##  **_Best/Worst Times_ **

Matt had a favourite memory about Mello.

The first time they told him about their past, unloading everything they held onto for years, all the pain, the fear, they were thirteen. It was a cold night, and they were both sitting at the edge of their secret bridge, one leg propped to the empty air between them and the river, the other on the stone ground of the bridge.

The air felt painful, yet invigorating in his lungs as he smoked his fifth cigarette. Mello was only on their second one, since talking took most of their attention.

After finishing their story, silent tears were streaming down their face, and they asked for a third cigarette in a shaky whisper. Matt threw his into the river, took their hand instead, and kissed it.

He then hugged them, tight, and Mello hugged him back, finally letting themselves being held while they cried, letting themselves feel everything at once. It was a weird position, and after ten minutes, their bodies were both stiff from the cold and their now aching backs, so Matt backed away, still holding Mello by the shoulders.

And, in a moment of bravery, induced by the teenage adrenaline of sneaking out to do illegal smoking and drinking, the two and a half ciders on them, and their emotional vulnerability, Mello propped themselves slightly forward and kissed Matt for the first time.

Maybe it wasn’t the best memory to have, but for Matt, that was an important one. The trust, the hard work in their friendship, their strong bond, their whole lives, all led them to that kiss, and he would always treasure it.

And thus, before going separate ways, him on a red stolen car, Mello on a black motorcycle, while lying down, hugging each other in silence, Matt broke it to tell him about it. Mello’s laugh after the confession surprised him.

“It’s funny, you know. Me telling you my worst times up to that date, also became the best moment for me too.” A second of silence, followed by the words that they both felt were never said enough between them.

“I love you, Mihael.” Mello smiled.

“I love you too, Mail.” Matt closed his eyes.

And just like that, they both had a new favourite memory.

##  _**Goodbyes** _

Mello knew, before going away, that it was most likely that they wouldn’t make it out alive. They knew that the Kira case could kill them, and was ready to pay the price.

They never told Matt, but the real reason they sent that e-mail was because, after the explosion, and the impossibility of tending the wounds properly, they thought that was it. They needed to see him one last time.

Mello had been ready to say goodbye more than the average person. Their life, hanging by a thread, ready to be cut short in a fraction of a second. Through the hands of others, or their own.

Yeah, Mello was no stranger to Death, the most definite goodbye of them all. They had seen it way too many times for the short life they’d lived. Way too many people had left them, most of them while they were still looking.

Back in LA, they thought they were ready to die, so they owed Matt a proper goodbye, because the brief 'till we meet again’ note they left for him at Wammy’s was definitely not going cut it. They knew how painful it was, not being able to say a last  _adieu_.

But they survived, and Matt joined the egg-less Easter hunt that was the Kira case. He knew how dangerous it was, he knew that at any given moment, they both could be goners. But he wasn’t giving up on Mello, he wasn’t ready to say goodbye to them. So he stayed.

Before he got into the car, they kissed one last time. The time to go was then, the plan worked on a tight time frame. So a last whisper, a last kiss, and that was it.

Matt was already gone. But he didn’t say goodbye, because he was confident. They would make it back home.

Right?

In the silence of the night, Mello kept replaying the images of the small TV attached to the truck, turned off hours ago, into his brain. The road seemed an endless void; the darkness, like an eldritch monstrosity, was ready to consume them at any moment.

They let themselves cry, if only for a couple minutes; their hot tears against their cold skin, heart aching and stomach turning. Like many years ago, Mello let themselves feel everything, the raw pain coursing through their veins, making everything feel pointless.

They needed to break the silence, if only to stop themselves from spiralling down further than they already did. They still had a mission, they had to make it work. For him.

And so, Mello whispered.

To themselves.

“I’m sorry.”

To no one.

“I love you.”

To Him.

“Goodbye.”

**Author's Note:**

> Original post:  
> https://trans-l-lawliet.tumblr.com/post/177281916230/a-week-in-a-day


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